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Aug, 2018

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Monumental

This photo of the Bride (from Brooklyn, New York, USA) and Groom (from Oegstgeest, NL) was shot from the top of the amazing Gemeentehuis Oegstgeest, NL National Monument this week. Four floors down through the Gemeentehuis building and just minutes after the wedding ceremony, we see them as a married couple for the first time.

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Location

This wedding photo of a Brooklyn (New York) Bride and Dutch Groom, was shot looking down from the top floor of the amazing Gemeentehuis Oegstgeest National Monument in The Netherlands, Europe.

Time

Several coffee's and a bicycle ride with lots of camera kit got me to the venue on time for a morning wedding shoot. Four floors down through the Gemeentehuis building and just minutes after the wedding ceremony, we see the newly wedded couple for the first time.

Lighting

All natural lighting with only a few precious minutes to dial it all in.

Equipment

This was shot with my trusted Canon 1DX Mark II with Canon's glorious EF 11-24mm f/4L USM Lens. With limited time and an unplanned angle it wouldn't have been possible to set a tripod up without a lot of faff, so I just held the camera at arms length and kinda hoped and worked had for the best results.

Inspiration

The setting had the most influence for the chosen angle and I'm a fine art fan. The Bride is a lover of architecture and asked for a skylight shot from the ground floor up through the monument to the sky above and I was happy to oblige. I think anyone in my situation would've seen the opportunity to create something extra special for their clients at this venue. The building is home to city officials and all floors are keypad and swipe protected but after a few words with a few people it was possible to be chaperoned to the top floor of the building to get this shot. Fortunately, the city officials approved when they saw the shot on the back of the camera and so did my clients. Phew!

Editing

I shoot down the middle/neutral RAW which means post processing is almost guaranteed. The people are so small in the image so it was important to bring some life to the floor and drop the interest through the metal monument to direct the eye straight to them. Some straightening was also required given my arms wouldn't reach to the centre of the monument.

In my camera bag

I carry a lot of kit when working with paying clients as I'm spontaneous and don't want to regret not having something to hand. Two cameras is a must with an eclectic array of lenses including ultra wide, brilliant reportage primes, tilt and shift, macro and the usual long reach fast glass work horses. Probably somewhere in the region of 45 kilo's bagged weight.

Feedback

In general, lots of sleep in the run down to a long shoot day is essential, as is belief in what you are doing. Spontaneity is a good trait to have in my opinion and variety is after all, the spice of life. This image and pretty much most of my images are created using a technique known as "back-button-focusing" (BFN). It simply works and allows compositional flexibility. If you've never shot BFN then try it out, stick with it for a while and life behind the lens should get that little bit easier.